Source: Izabela Sobańska-Klekowska

The student rally, held at the University of Warsaw on 8th March 1968, which was brutally suppressed by the communist government headed by Władysław Gomułka, turned out to be a spark which ignited one of the most complex socio-political crises in Poland’s post-War history. This crisis resulted in the pacification of Polish intellectual life and in the forced migration of 13,000 Polish Jews, who had fallen victim to the government’s brutal antisemitic campaign.

The Częstochowa TSKŻ commemorated the 55th anniversary of this event.

On 17th March 2023, members heard Częstochowa TSKŻ chairwoman, Izabela Sobańska-Klekowska deliver a lecture on “Częstochowa Echoes of March’68”. Sitting at a common table, they listened to the history of those who left Poland with a one-way passport. Discussion included the Gdańsk Railway Station in Warsaw, which was the departure point for most of those emigrants and also learned about the plaque there, which commemorates the site. Following the lecture, members recalled their friends who had left Częstochowa at that time.

On 27th March 2023, the Częstochowa TSKŻ invited its member to a lecture by historian, Wiesław Paszkowski, on “The Origins of March’68”. The event was attended by Dr Zdzisław Wolski, a member of the Polish parliament, who spoke about his friends who had left at that time, and by Ms Jolanta Urbańska, Deputy Chairwoman of the Częstochowa City Council and special advisor to the Częstochowa Mayor on the Jewish community and on Jewish affairs.

Wiesław Paszkowski spoke about the events, moods and the political situation which resulted in the mass escape, from Poland, of persecuted Jews.